Aunty Jane
Well-Known Member
When you say “we” and when the Bible writer says “we”.....these are two completely different groups of people.I already explained. I’m sure you read 1 Peter before.
The Christian scriptures were written by God’s elect, primarily for God’s elect.....so when the Bible writers like Peter or Paul said “we” they was addressing their fellow elect....the ones “chosen” by God and anointed with his spirit for life, and an important role, in heaven.
The majority of mankind will never see heaven. It was never God’s intention to take them there in the first place. The earth was specially designed to be our permanent home...a paradise to share with all God’s creatures. Until mankind sinned, there was no need for any human to go to heaven.....or to come from heaven to live in human flesh.
If we understand the mechanics of redemption, it is to restore what was forfeited. Everlasting human life was forfeited by Adam, and Jesus came in the flesh to buy back what was lost for his children, born in sin through no fault on their part.
Those chosen by God for a role in heaven had to be found faithful and obedient to God “unto death”.....that means no conduct unbecoming a Christian......it means not overstepping God laws and principles to benefit ourselves...not making excuses to do what God never sanctioned....to be “faithful in what is least” so that being “faithful also in much” will come naturally. (Luke 16:10)
The principles are all there Wrangler and you have been shown the Bible’s viewpoint on adopting anything from false worship....”touch nothing unclean” was a directive and yet all of Christendom touches spiritually “unclean” celebrations with seeming impunity because they can justify those thing for themselves.....can we justify them to God is the important question. There are no worshippers of Jehovah who celebrated anyone’s birthday in the Bible. The reason for that is because Jews never celebrated birthdays......Jesus would not have celebrated his own birthday.Not exactly a Scriptural prohibition against celebrating birthdays, is it?
Again you miss the point....what is “culturally appropriated” as you call it, is nothing but justification for adopting something God could never approve. The Jews tried this on many times, and felt Jehovah’s wrath upon them for having the temerity to disregard the principles upon which all his laws were based.The discernment that is missing from JW doctrine is inferring divine commandments from merely cultural observations.
While circumcision was specifically a point of conflict recorded in Scripture, women wearing hats or dresses are, likewise customs that are not to be applied to new covenant believers. The same with women speaking at churches.
Oh good grief! Now I’ve heard everything! Do you hear yourself? What pathetic reasoning for doing as you please whilst pointing out that there is no prohibition for such things. What Bible principles should guide our thinking on things that are not specifically stated?Scripture does not indicate Jesus drove an automobile. Scripture does not indicate Jesus celebrated St Patrick’s Day. Scripture does not indicate Jesus attended modern sporting events. The lack of evidence for it being a prohibition is the fallacy appeal to ignorance. The same with other man-made cultural traditions, including celebrating birthdays.
You rail against what is not stated when it’s suits your beliefs.....the trinity is an example of this.
There are many things that are not explicitly stated in scripture.....one for example, is smoking and other addictions.....where does the Bible condemn something that was not practiced in Bible times? It gives us principles to guide us.If JW’s don’t want to celebrate birthday’s, we all know it is not a requirement to be a Christian. It’d be nice if you and @Aunty Jane could simply admit it is not explicitly prohibited in Scripture.
Paul wrote...”Therefore, since we have these promises, beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
So here we have the principle.....we know now that smoking or other harmful addictions defile the flesh and can alter the mind, so we would avoid doing that because we would not deliberately want to pollute the body that God gave us.....yet some justify it for their own reasons........but Paul also mentions “defilement of the spirit”......things that defile us spiritually in God’s eyes. Would we want to participate in the very things his word tells us not to “touch”? (2 Cor 6:14-18)
What does it mean to “touch nothing unclean” in a spiritual sense? To us it means that if something is borrowed from pagan sources, renamed, and then justified to ourselves, it doesn’t mean that it has God’s approval, just because it has ours....does it?
We will all learn that soon enough, but it benefits no one to celebrate any of those pagan customs and festivals as if God turns a blind eye now, to what he expressed abhorrence for back when the pagans did it. He didn’t turn a blind eye for Israel, who felt his hot displeasure on many occasions when they tried him to the limit over what they chose to do, even at one point sacrificing their own children to a false god. Because they were not faithful in what is least, the devil led them to gross infractions of his law.....gradually through justification, Israel became the very opposite of what their God commanded them to be. We therefore have a prime example in Israel’s conduct of what NOT to do, if we want Jehovah’s favour.
Again your choices are yours to make.....as our choices are, so we have to know what those choices can lead to if we want what God is offering......continuing life is conditional as it always has been.....dependent upon our obedience to our Creator......it is all he has ever asked of us from day one.
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